Lu Xinjian

Shanghai, China

Coming from a design background and influenced by his own design practice, artist Lu Xinjian brings his particular understanding of the relationships among lines, shapes and colors into his artistic practice. It’s only natural when he shifted his practice into the artistic realm, that these elements remain the most prominent in his artistic works.

Almost by accident, Google Earth became Lu’s source of inspiration, as well as his crucial artistic instrument in the “City DNA” series; in this series of works, he traces the bird’s eye view landscapes of parts of different cities from around the world and abstracts them into simple patterns and lines.

Since 2009, after the "City DNA" series, Lu has continued to create even more series: "Invisible Poems", "City Stream", "Constellation" and "Reflections".

Lu’s works seamlessly combine simplicity and complexity, abstraction and concept. From each painting, the viewers can grasp the visual characteristics of a certain city at a glance, yet the content itself is so complex since the cityscape embodies the historical, economic and political history of that particular city to this day. Visually, the abstract presentation may seem randomly composed by lines, shapes and colors, yet the concept behind the works is rich and concrete.